Gross Injustice in MA: Boston Bomber Given More Rights Than Justina Pelletier

23 Apr 2014

The sad and incomprehensible saga of Justina Pelletier, who has been under the custodial care of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families for 14 months, continues to get worse.

Just to review – Justina was brought to Boston Children’s hospital in February of 2013 for the stomach flu at the recommendation of her specialist. She had already been diagnosed with mitochondrial disease at Tufts Medical Center, and had been receiving treatment for the disorder for years.

Unfortunately for the Pelletiers, when she arrived a Boston Children’s, a new set of doctors decided that Justina was suffering from a psychiatric disorder. The Pelletiers disputed the misdiagnosis and understandably attempted to remove their daughter from the hospital.

The situation has been spiraling out of control ever since.

Thanks to the DCF’s medical and psychological abuse, Justina’s condition is rapidly deteriorating. Her father, Lou Pelletier, dispairs, “Justina is in a world of hurt. She is physically and mentally dying. She doesn’t have much longer. “

Justina is being forced to endure behavior modification therapies, and drug-induced treatments in almost total isolation from her family, who are only allowed one 1-hour supervised visit per week. Meanwhile, to add insult to injury, a judge recently ruled that the Boston Marathon Bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is allowed unsupervised visits.

The Pelletier family recently was able to deliver over 700 “Get Well” cards to their daughter, who is now being held captive at a Wayside Youth and Family Facility in Framingham, MA.

The cards were sent from supporters of the Pelletiers and friends of Liberty Counsel, the non profit, public interest law firm that is representing Justina. The cards, with messages of hope and encouragement, were delivered to her on Good Friday, and her father was able to read several of the messages to her.

U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole Jr. ruled Wednesday that the now-20-year-old charged with four deaths and injuring more than 260 people should be able to see his sisters without an FBI agent present. The feds can appeal, but he says their case would have to be “pretty convincing.”

“Can you believe it?” That was Jennifer Pelletier’s response when I told her about the ruling. She’s Justina’s older sister — and every visit she has with her wheelchair-bound sister is held under the watchful eye of agents from both the state’s Department of Children and Families and — since the story went national — armed state police. The family is only allowed one visit a week, for one hour a week, with their own sick daughter.

“It’s hard for me to say this,” Justina’s father Lou told me Wednesday, “but a terrorist is getting better treatment in Massachusetts right now than a sick teenager who’s done nothing wrong.”

Justina has to be transported from the Wayside Youth and Family Facility to a DCF office for the one-hour weekly visitation with her family, which is overseen by 2-3 DCF officials and, and an armed police officer.

The only glimmer of hope for the Pelletiers comes from the Liberty Counsel legal team, who are “diligently working to take down this Goliath-sized state agency, which condescendingly and arrogantly claims to be acting in Justina’s best interest.”